Wednesday, October 25, 2017

In the garden

An update of the garden is well overdue, so today was the day I grabbed my camera and phone to take some pictures to show you what is happening in the garden around here.

Pretty pelargoniums are blooming. This was taken this morning and the following one in the afternoon with the sun shining on its petals.

And a red one.

Star Jasmine in bloom.

Happy hippies...

Some seedlings waiting to go in. I did plant these out this afternoon. Cucumbers, zucchinis and Ironbark pumpkins. In the red pot is a avocado seed. Recently I bought two avocados from the nearby Wirrabara farmers market and when I got home and cut one open I found that the seed had started to grow on the inside.

Sprouted avocado seed. It reminds me of a baby chicken!

Pretty apple blossom.

Baby grapes.

There are not many nectarines this year due to heavy pruning to get the tree back into shape. But I will enjoy the ones that are there.

The apricots will make up for the lack of nectarines as the tree is loaded once again.Always a prolific bearer.

Curly Kale.

The baby spinach has gone to seed. We have been away camping (will post about it soon) for a week and this was the result when I got home. There were a few hot days while we were gone so whether that made them bolt to seed, I am not sure. Could be just the time of year. If you would like to grow baby spinach, go ahead it is very easy.

I have a few celery plants growing. Another easy plant to grow.

My daughter gave me some lettuces and I put them in just before going away. They seem to be doing okay although I did lose two plants.

Apple cucumber.

I lost all my strawberry plants from last year due to transplanting them into new beds and they did not like it at all, so now I start again...

The new beds (Hugelkultur) are doing okay. I have Kale and eggplants in this photo, but have planted out zucchini and pumpkins since taking this. Please excuse the shade, I am in need of a new piece, but it does the job for now.

These potatoes I am growing just from the peel. I had not tried this before, but will continue to do so in future. I didn't really have anything to grow them in so I popped them in a shopping bag with some compost and straw and this is the result. I have more peels on the counter drying out ready to plant.

Under the shade.

I am progressing with mulching around the fruit trees. Eight done, four to go.

Saving water is always a good thing to do no matter where you live. Our rainfall is very minimal so I have to be careful with the mains water that I use as it is very expensive. Hubby has placed rainwater out near the garden so I use that as much as possible. The wicking bed is definitely a good idea and so is having thick mulch.

Your garden is beautiful. So many beautiful flowers, fruits and veggies. Well done Tania!Could you please explain how you grow potatoes from peels? Do you cut the area where there are eyes and plant it?XXNil

I will include the method for potato growing in a future post. I just cut the skins off with the eyes on, dry them out for a few days so they wont rot once planted, then put them in soil and straw, water and wait :)

Does the Star Jasmine have that wonderfully strong scent Tania? I’ve always wanted Jasmine near the external doors to have the scents wafting through the house. You have so much variety in your garden. My kale bolted very early too however I remove the seedy stalks whenever I see them and they’re doing quite well. I grew eggplant last year for the first time which was a success. Didn’t know the same plant could regrow - I know now.Thanks for taking us around your garden.Kylie

Unfortunately my Jasmine doesn't have a strong aroma. I would be great if it did because it is near my front entrance.

This is the first time I have tried growing a second crop from the eggplant bush. It survived winter frosts so I thought there may be a chance that it would come back and it did. I usually do the same for capsicum, but they haven't taken off this year so I have planted new plants.

Your garden is a wonderful testament of just what can be done on the edge of the outback! I drive through so many quite inland towns and communities that are so dusty and dry and yet....you can see from the older houses that back in the day they must have had wonderful gardens. I know climate change is real but it surely has not changed that significantly that no one can garden any more!

Back in the day, mostly everyone grew vegetables and fruit trees. It didn't matter what the climate and soil was like, they still persisted and were usually successful. I love the way the Greeks and Italians grow their food, it is always in abundance and they have those "green thumbs". I like how they plant veggies everywhere even among a flower garden in the front yard, every available space is filled :)

I am enjoying this time of year. Love to see all the growth after such a cold winter. It has been so dry this year with our last decent rain back in April, hopefully we get some spring and summer rains. Cant complain really as the heat so far has been pretty mild, but sadly that usually means impending droughts.

Our sunsets are always pretty. So lucky that I get to see them in my own backyard :)

Tania, you grow a lot of veggies for the two of you. Do you preserve most of the harvest? Since I have reduced my sugar intake I don't make chutneys, jams etc any more which used up a lot of excess produce. We don't much freezer space otherwise I would freeze more.

I do not preserve much anymore either Nanna Chel. With the fruit trees, I stew and freeze ( two freezers) the fruit and give away to family and friends if I have excess.

It may look like I grow a lot but we eat continuously from the veggie patch. At the moment there is not much happening out there. I only grow the food we eat regularly :)

We have baby spinach with almost every meal...salad for lunch, in cooking for tea. Silver beet is mostly for the chooks during summer due to lack of green here, but we eat it too. I will be picking my garlic today. The leeks are also ready so will be picking them too. I chop and freeze excess leeks for soups and stews etc. Rhubarb is pretty slow growing so when I harvest, which will be soon, then it will be a while until it comes back again. The kale is used in all my cooking (90% vegan), I also juice with it. I use kale in place of broccoli in meals because the purchased variety of broccoli is pesticide ridden. Eggplant when in full season provide lots of veggie meals, same with zucchini and capsicum. Pumpkins have good keeping quality. If I get too many I will share with family members. Tomatoes are used a lot in salads and cooking. The herbs are dried and used all the time in my cooking (mostly vegetable Mediterranean dishes). Celery is used in cooking and for chook food. Cucumbers for salad and juicing. Spring onions for cooking and salads. All vegetables can be dried if needed :)

Think I could have made a blog post about this lol. Maybe I should share some of my meals one day :)

Thank you for the advice on the lemon grass. It is looking a bit sorry at the moment because it got hit badly with the frosts over winter. Last summer it was huge and grew really well. It is only just starting to shoot back now and I intend to separate and plant elsewhere. I might trim the brown leaves off and see if that encourages it to grow back a bit faster.

You have the most amazingly beautiful garden and I envy you. Having such a wonderful garden is a lot of hard work and it's lovely to see the fruiting of that hard work. You're an inspiration. Thank you for sharing.Anne xx

After being away for an entire season, I have been enjoying "catching up" with your blog. There have been many, many changes in the "B" family & there are more to come. I will be posting about some of those at a later date.Anyhow, I am so glad you are still posting and I'm looking forward to returning to a regular blogging schedule.

Well hello Mrs.B, its so good to hear from you again. I am looking forward to reading about your new adventures :)

I have been blogging for almost ten years and the past few years my enthusiasm has not been what it used to be, or what I want it to be. I was hoping to rectify this in 2017 but life has a habit of getting in the way of blogging. But I am hanging in there :)

Your garden is really productive, Tania. I picked the first of the Lebanese cucumbers here yesterday and we have lots more growing well after all the rain we've had. Celery going well too. Your pelargoniums are very pretty, I love these plants as they are so easy to grow. Meg:)

wow your garden is amazing, such a variety. That baby spinach looks a bit different to what I know as baby spinach. I have been growing tatsoi which grows well in my tropical climate and I use it the same way as spinach. I am also interested to hear the story of growing the peels of potatoes. they always say you need to watch for virus free potatoes so I have never grown them, only sweet potatoes..